… my grandfather taught me … “… the main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.”

—

Stephen Covey’s grandson

====

Well. This is about focus and decisions (because if you focus on the wrong decision you are in trouble).

Anyway. When I saw “… the main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing” this morning I was reminded how much most of us, young & old, in business suck at this. Yet, it sounds so frickin’ simple … how could we all suck so much at this?

A couple thoughts on that:

– We get distracted.

– The main thing we select is not really the main thing.

Let’s be clear. The ‘main thing’ is the relationship between “what I elect to, or should, focus on” and actual ‘focus’, i.e., the decision and the commitment to the decision. If you get either side of this relationship wrong you may as well accept ‘non success.’

Let me explain the two things.

Distraction.

While what I am now going to say sounds contrary to popular belief — I am not sure life and business is any more distracting now than it was years ago. The props may have changed but, in my view, distractions are distractions and all distractions of any size, quantity or quality are persistent sonuvabitches. In addition. It is this view, the traditionally historical strength of distractions to distract us, that drives my belief that anyone of any age sucks at the main thing remaining the main thing. Distractions test our commitment – at any age. And, frankly, I could argue that if you are so easily distracted than it CAN’T be your ‘main thing’ <but I won’t>.

For young people everything is typically incredibly overwhelming as it is, therefore, distractions can be a coping mechanism, i.e., relief from the overwhelming or a bad way of coping with overwhelming.

For older people, regardless of experience, it isn’t that things are overwhelming it’s just that you always know that no matter how much you do there is always more to do and that ‘more to do’ will always be there waiting. Therefore we older folk justify the distractions <in our heads> as ‘the main thing may have a deadline but it will not disappear simply because I may elect to ignore it for a minute or two.’

But. Here is the most persistent distraction in business – success in the present.

In a world which is constantly screaming “adapt, adapt, adapt’ it becomes incredibly easy to start following success. And I mean INCREDIBLY EASY. Success is a seductive bastard. And far too often success in the present can look an awful lot like long term success <their costumes look very similar>.

All I can really say is that it is incredibly easy for anyone, at any experience level in business, to get distracted from the ‘main thing.’

Not really the main thing.

Whew. Two aspects of this …

– a main thing based solely on ‘tangible’ <or … let’s say ‘there is a lack of emotional investment regardless of the desire to meet the objective’>

– the main thing is a reflection of a created priority.

First.

Lack of emotional investment.

In business we are infamous for creating tangible milestones and objectives and in doing so we expect people to be emotionally invested in achieving that ‘main thing’ we need to do.

Uhm. In my mind that is like manufacturing passion or happiness <cannot really be done>. Here I suggest a dose of reality to business people: don’t try and manufacture emotional energy and accept some things just as they are. I can have milestones, objectives and success criteria, but they don’t have to be ‘the main thing we need to do.’ These are simplyshit that needs to be done.

If something doesn’t have a purpose beyond some number objective it is extremely difficult to have genuine emotional investment. I would actually suggest without emotional investment it really cannot be a ‘main thing.’

Second.

Created priorities.

When you don’t know what you want to do or where you really want to go, inevitably, a priority is created to take the place of those things. That is a created priority.

I am not suggesting they aren’t useful and as transition ‘progress behavior motivators’ they can be excellent tools – but let’s not confuse them with ‘a main thing.’ Yet, we do confuse them again and again <and again>. Created main things, if you are not careful, are rabbit holes. You can follow a ‘created main thing’ as persistently & stubbornly as if it is a real main thing and end up in a really really bad place.

Managers in business are infamous for creating ‘main things’ <and rabbit holes>. What these managers don’t realize is that their employees see right thru the created aspect.

This creates issues because while the ‘workers’ become cynical over having to invest energy on some created priority cloaked by some manager in “main thing prioritizing”, when things do not go as planned far too many times managers step back saying things like “I don’t have the right people to implement the important objectives” or the ones with good intentions focus on the wrong things like ‘I need to learn how to motivate my people’ <only to implement some of the wackiest motivational shit you will ever see>. Not often enough do managers look in the mirror at the actual stimulus, or, this ‘main thing’ they’ve identified, and truly challenge whether it really is a ‘main thing’ rather than simply a business objective we need to attain for the good of the business.

Now. All that said. The ‘main thing’ this young man is referencing in the opening quote is his decision, as a Mormon; to go on mission for two years despite the fact he is having a fabulous year as a wide receiver for the Utah football team.

There is emotional investment.

It is not a created priority.

And while an incredibly powerful persistent distraction poked at him <success in the present>, he, well, remembered the main thing is the main thing.

In the end.

I admit.I came to admire Stephen Covey’s thinking late in Life. Maybe I just needed to mature intellectually to get the nuance of what he tried to tell us or maybe I just didn’t understand the ‘main things’ in business well enough. Regardless, in a different, but still good, way than Peter Drucker, Covey thinking makes for better business minds <and behavior>.

I know I certainly don’t have all the answers and that is why I read and think about words from Toffler, Drucker & Covey — more so than Godin and Gladwell. Business thinking, as well as any type of thinking, is hard work. Covey & the best business thinkers make you think … sometimes almost in such a complex nuanced way that it always seems like it is slightly out of your grasp <versus the more modern business thinkers who tend to offer formulas and soundbites>. I could argue that we need to stop seeking answers and continue to persistently ask questions.

Anyway.

The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing. A twisted but simply important thing to keep in mind.

Well. Every once in a while you find some words, a quote in this case, which makes you stop and think and it reaches into your business mind and personal mind. This was one of those quotes for me.

I am an introvert at my core. I think that makes the thought of a “world’s whisper” resonate with me because, well, this may sound obvious, but the world, the people in it and the thoughts that pervade the ether of each day are fascinating.

Fascinating to me and I actually believe fascinating to a lot of people. I think we all feel that way <albeit we get scared of the exact same things on occasion> but I think introverts just listen a little more closely to the whispers..

Regardless. While it may seem everything in the world is shouting at the top of their lungs, the good stuff whispers.

I know I am addicted to the whispers.

I know I am addicted to listening for them.

And I don’t understand why more people don’t have this addiction.

And I really don’t understand it now that we have the internet.

What do I mean? In the good old days, to hear the whispers, you needed to be physically engaged. You had to travel, sit & watch, immerse yourself in what is happening. If you were even slightly introverted, it could kind of suck. At minimum, a little uncomfortable.

In the good ole ‘new’ days you can lurk <if you are introverted> and be actively involved <if you are not>. Yeah. Lurking online sounds creepy, but if it is done with the intent to listen to the whispers of the world I find it difficult to find fault in the behavior.

While people will argue with me, I would suggest that it is just as difficult to hear the whispers online as it is to hear them in the physical world. I say that because regardless of the environment you are sifting through the noise and untangling that which is unimportant and tugging at the threads of what is important.

Personally I don’t really give a shit on the environment, online/offline/noisy/silent, all I care about is leaning in closely to hear the good stuff — the whispers.

All that said. Some of you may have no clue what the fuck I am taking about.

That’s okay.

You just haven’t heard the whispers yet. If you had, you would never stop listening for them.

It s the good stuff. Its the kind of stuff worth listening to (and listening for>. I could suggest it is within the whispers that you will find what truly matters, but I am not sure I can <I don’t have empirical support/research> so all I can say is that it is the good stuff.

It is the extraordinary thread woven amongst the beautiful blanket of the everyday ordinary.

====

“The idea of the extraordinary happening in the context of the ordinary is what’s fascinating to me.“

Chris Van Allsburg=====

And for those who haven’t heard the whispers?

It is worth trying.

You just have to listen closely. Sometimes you just have to lean into Life a little and listen just a little closer. The whispers are there and I can promise you, they are worth hearing.

“On the loftiest throne in the world we are still sitting only on our own rump.”

–

Michel de Montaigne from “Of Experience,” The Essays

=============

Well. We all park our ass in some seat. Sometimes it comes with some lofty title, sometimes its just a seat in the room, sometimes its really cushy & comfortable and sometimes its really uncomfortable.

But here’s the deal. Each seat, throne as it were, cannot tell who and what you are. An ass is an ass.

Now. Montaigne hung out with kings & queens and dukes & duchesses. Most of my friends are normal schmucks.

Regardless. His words are relevant to any and all and I wish more people would remember these words <and the thought>. Some people may want to talk about ‘humility’ here. I will not. I will mention “awareness.” Thrones are tricky things. Not only can you get really comfortable in them but they also tend to be placed on pedestals. Pedestals on which you are higher than others and can view things from a greater height.

Because of that you may begin thinking your ass is better than someone else’s.

Because of that you may begin thinking your throne’s greater height & its grander view means you actually have an ability to see better than someone else.

Because of that you may begin confusing what you offer versus what the throne itself ‘offers.’

Because of that you may lose some self awareness.

Yeah.

Thrones are clever little shits. They seem to suck awareness right out of you ass as you sit there and, well, you become an ass.

Look. Your lofty throne may simply be one moment in the spotlight … or a lifetime in the spotlight. And on occasion you may even gain a glimpse of true greatness. You may even deserve to be on such a lofty throne <even if but for a moment>.

My point? None of that really matters.

Even the highest of thrones simply is a comfortable seat for a simple, common, every day rump. Think about that every time you have a seat in the room.

“You are a worm who thought himself a serpent just because you slither.

But your power was not real, Pliny.

It was all a dream. Time now to wake.”

—–

Pierce Brown

=============

So. I would guess that most of us have run across a slitherer in business <let alone Life>.

A business slitherer?

Yeah.

One of those people who seem to slither in and around and as close to the edge of what is legal, ethical or right but never seems to cross any particular line far enough that someone can say unequivocally they have done something criminally wrong.

A slitherer slithers through all the same things most of us in business and in life do, but does it in a way that seems corrupt <although it may not be>, seems illegal <although it may not be>, seems unethical <although it may not be> and seems inappropriate <although it may not be too everyone>.

That is the characteristic of one who slithers through Life.

—–

“seems.”

——-

“Seems” taints everything they do and, well, everything we do. A slitherer figures out a way to be held to a slightly different standard which ‘seems’ wrong, but no one can point to any real specific, provable, criminally wrong behavior.

Now. It always helps everyone to have someone defend you and, somehow, the one who slithers through business almost always has supporters. Those supporters mostly rally around the quasi-indefensible behavior because a slitherer is a proven survivor. And, yes, in a world in which surviving attrition may actually be a key to success … a persistent survivor can be viewed as an attractive ship to tie your line to <even if it is a ship of dubious lineage>.

But maybe the worst thing about someone who slithers their way to whatever success they gain is the team that ends up surrounding them.

Although I am no real prize for any boss, I would never work for a slitherer – my ethical and moral compass steers me too far away from any “seems wrong” behavior to make a position like that viable for me — or, I imagine, for a slitherer boss.

=============

“Round and round they went with their snakes, snakily…”

Aldous Huxley, Brave New World

============================

My point on that is slitherers seek slitherers. It is a weird type of loyalty. It isn’t really loyalty to the person it is more loyalty to the fact you can behave in a way that ‘seems’ inappropriate on occasion but ‘seems’ okay to your boss <if not even applauded>.

Sigh.

That said.

We do not fire people for being seemingly unethical behavior or seemingly clueless behavior or seemingly inappropriate behavior. Appearance of behavior just makes people feel uncomfortable but it is typically not a fireable offense … it is just offensive.

And, yet, a slitherer thrives in the seemingly offensive behavior. They thrive because as their heinous behavior shrinks them, in some ways, it also grows their ability to slither around the edges of true illegal, true criminal, true unethical to do what they want to do the way they want to do it.

To be clear. A good day for a slitherer is different than a good day for most of the rest of us.

Good to them is a “win”, or some version of successful outcome, done ‘their way’ of which no one can point to any specific wrong doing or completely unethical behavior <which, by the way, to them, is a type of success in and of itself>. Their ‘good win’ doesn’t have to actually contain any of what most of us would consider ‘good’ to be considered success.

To be clear. Most good organizations foster a culture which tends to expel slitherers. Good cultures which foster moral & ethical behavior tend to avoid slithering close to any lines and therefore tend to treat slitherers as a virus to the organization itself.

I do worry, on occasion, that the good slitherers <which is actually an oxymoron> survive in any organization and are constantly trying to infect the organization itself <and, given the right circumstances, actually can take over an organization>.

I wrote this today because it has been sitting in my draft folder for a long time as an organizational behavior business piece and now I can point out that our president is a slitherer.

He slithers through all the same things most of us in business and in life do but he does it in a way that seems corrupt <although it may not be>, seems illegal <although it may not be>, seems unethical <although it may not be> and seems inappropriate <although it may not be too everyone>.

Just watch. Trump will slither his way in and out of any seemingly illegal, corrupt, unethical event he places himself in. That is what a good slitherer does. And, yes, good slitherer is an oxymoron, but, in a way, President Trump is also.

“Blorft” is an adjective I just made up that means ‘Completely overwhelmed but proceeding as if everything is fine and reacting to the stress with the torpor of a possum.’

I have been blorft every day for the past seven years.”

―

Tina Fey

================

“The mind can go either direction under stress—toward positive or toward negative: on or off. Think of it as a spectrum whose extremes are unconsciousness at the negative end and hyperconsciousness at the positive end.

The way the mind will lean under stress is strongly influenced by training.”

―

Frank Herbert

===============

Life does not have any exit signs. Once you enter you are in. And this even includes shit days.

And I kind of think this is why so many of us encounter stress.

We use meditation, ‘time outs’, mindfulness exercises and a whole variety of tricks to relieve the natural stress of Life but, well, you cannot exit. Yet, we all keep searching for some fucking exit to get us out of whatever we are currently unhappily dealing with.

Origin of Stress

Middle English (denoting hardship or force exerted on a person for the purpose of compulsion): shortening of distress, or partly from Old French estresse ‘narrowness, oppression,’ based on Latin strictus ‘drawn tight’

In physics, stress describes the force that produces strain on a physical body (i.e.: bending a piece of metal until it snaps occurs because of the force, or stress, exerted on it).

And sometimes that is where I think stress enters. It enters when we seek exits.

In addition I think that stress is constantly looking in the windows constantly looking for a way in and all the while we are constantly looking out the window at them worrying. We worry because most of us don’t like being boxed in by Life. We just feel more comfortable knowing there is an exit.

But.

Once again.

Life does not have exit signs.

And, holy shit, that stresses us out.

I will note this is bad unnecessary stress versus good stress. Good stress? Yeah.

The stress response in humans is facilitated by the adrenal glands, which sit on top of our kidneys and spit adrenaline into our blood whenever we’re in need of fight or flight. That stress response is crucial in dire circumstances and is important to our survival instincts.

But while Life often feels like a survival test it really isn’t. It is more really like a grind. This means that, scientifically speaking, most of our life truly does not requires stress. In fact … by permitting stress to remain at some sort of low level hum simply keeps us on some needless edge.

Now, that said, having no Life exit signs REALLY matters when … well … something occurs where you start frantically looking for a fucking exit.

When is that?

Research has shown that although the type of events which result in the release of stress hormones are different for everyone there are common elements to situations that elevate stress hormones in everyone <amusingly, the acronym for the common elements is ‘NUTS.’:

Novelty

Unpredictability

Threat to the ego

Sense of Control

Regardless. I don’t think we talk often enough about the no exit thing. And because we don’t far too many people dwell on shit <mistakes and “what if scenarios”> because we didn’t accept the right frame of reference for dealing with whatever it is we need to deal with.

While research shows that some elite performers have an uncanny ability to clear their heads after making errors and constantly move on I would suggest it is less about leaving mistakes behind and more about the fact they are better at accepting that they are ‘stuck where they are and no exit is magically arriving’ and they basically accept ‘it is what it is.’

Managing stress is not as simple as doing yoga or relaxation techniques or any ‘go online and find the 5 secrets to reducing stress.’ Stress is a very personal thing and a very complex thing. It is not as simple as saying “I will no longer do this.” The brain has lots of different circuits built on top of one another which seemingly provide feedback and stimulus to our most primitive and primordial response systems.

And, yes, what I just wrote certainly suggests that the complex connections encourage everyone to accept that, yes, it is all in your head.

But.

We make the complex even more complex through many of the mental gyrations we go through to eliminate or limit stress. It seems like it would be much simpler to begin attacking stress at a more foundational level. Maybe like … well … getting people more comfortable with the fact that Life has no exits. Maybe accept that where you are is where you are. And, lastly, maybe that where you are is much better if you aren’t always looking around for some frickin’ exit which doesn’t exist.

“I’ve noticed something about people who make a difference in the world: They hold the unshakable conviction that individuals are extremely important, that every life matters.

They get excited over one smile.

They are willing to feed one stomach, educate one mind, and treat one wound.

They aren’t determined to revolutionize the world all at once; they’re satisfied with small changes. Over time, though, the small changes add up. Sometimes they even transform cities and nations, and yes, the world.”

=

Beth Clar

——

This is about responding.

First. What does RSVP mean? In the context of social invitations RSVP is a request for a response from the invited person or people. It is derived from the French phrase répondez s’il vous plaît, meaning ‘please respond’ <”respond if you please”>.

Sticking with the formal aspect of an RSVP … there are some guidelines.

———

If RSVP is written on an invitation it means the invited guest must tell the host whether or not they plan to attend the party. It does not mean to respond only if you’re coming, and it does not mean respond only if you’re not coming (the expression “regrets only” is reserved for that instance). It means the host needs to know who is going to attend, get a definite head count, the planned event … and needs it by the date specified on the invitation.

———–

Second. RSVP also has to do with Life, not just parties.

Think about it. Life, in many ways, says ‘please respond.’ My fear, and belief, is that many of us simply haven’t read the rules of etiquette and do not respond.

Look. I often write about how Life is difficult and how Life is tricky and how Life has a warped sense of humor.

But. Life can also be quite respectful and act with true etiquette and grace. I don’t mean big pomp and circumstance moments, but little moments in which doing the little things well matters. Uhm. Like an rsvp for example.

—–

“When you do something noble and beautiful and nobody notices, do not be sad. For the sun every morning is a beautiful spectacle and yet most of the audience still sleeps.”

John Lennon

—–

I sometimes worry people no longer understand what RSVP means. In social event scenarios as well as Life.

Assuming the best, and that the reason guests don’t RSVP to an invitation is a case of ignorance, not rudeness, let me suggest this.

People have a tendency to not respond because … well … it is safer.

Less chance of conflict. And it may seem like the easiest path but think about it from this quote’s perspective.

—–

“Every time we choose safety, we reinforce fear.”

Cheri Huber

—

Sure. I could simply believe most people don’t get involved with Life because they are too busy.

Or they are ignorant of the fact their absence is not noted or meaningful.

But I can’t. I can’t because I don’t believe it is true.

I think we do it, subconsciously or consciously, because it is safer — we get to avoid possible conflict.

Oh. The risk in doing this over & over & over? We become disengaged with Life.

But. Here is the good news. Life will keep sending you invitations. Over & over & over again.

You just gotta RSVP every once in a while.

To be clear. You are not always being invited to a ‘big party.’ Sometimes the RSVP is just for something small.

Saying that permits me to circle back to where I began … willing to feed one stomach, educate one mind, and treat one wound. They aren’t determined to revolutionize the world all at once; they’re satisfied with small changes.

Over time, though, the small changes add up.

That’s why you RSVP to life.

Small changes add up.

Small moments add up.

Small gestures add up.

It is true that Life, in general, is indifferent to you and what you want. However. What Life does do is create event after event which you DO get invited to. That means its up to you to respond. And, yeah, I do believe RSVPing matters even in this scenario. Just showing up is good but not as good as telling Life you are gonna show up. Why? Because it increases the odds Life may actually NOT be indifferent when you show up.

Maybe for you there’s one thousand tomorrows, or three thousand, or ten, so much time you can bathe in it, roll around it, let it slide like coins through you fingers.

So much time you can waste it.

But for some of us there’s only today.

And the truth is, you never really know. “

=

Lauren Oliver

——–

“People are all over the world telling their one dramatic story and how their life has turned into getting over this one event. Now their lives are more about the past than their future. “

=

Chuck Palahniuk

——-

We all have moments, you know, cross road moments. Ok. There are actually a shitload of crossroad moments, in fact, so many your head would explode if you truly counted them. But, in this case, I mean ‘that moment’ kind of moment.

That moment we believe our world and Life shifted direction.

One moment in which something died within us … or something came to Life within us.

The proverbial and metaphorical fork in the road.

I will not argue that these moments not only play a large role in life nor will I argue that these moments can be infinitely important. But. What I will suggest is that, maybe, we make these moments important to us in the wrong way.

Maybe we need not reflect upon them because they are … well … in the past.

We have already left ‘there’ and are now ‘here’ and are … well … on our way to ‘somewhere.’

I don’t know. I saw this quote and it made me think.

It made me think about how often when asked about ‘how did you get here’we so quickly shift into the past and, well, not talk about what is happening now. Nor do we answer this question by discussing where we are going, i.e., the future.

It made me think about how we value our past decisions so highly and maybe not value decisions to come at the same value.

It made me think that we assess value in size <one big moment> rather than in quantity <the little moments that got us ‘here’>.

It made me think about how many choices we have, have many of those choices are truly meaningful, and how many ore are actually meaningless, how poorly we assess meaningful & meaningless, and how often a ‘fork choice’ doesn’t really look like a fork when standing there.

Sure. Some of us probably have ‘that moment’ stored somewhere in our past. But I imagine more of us actually have a whole bunch of seemingly meaningless little moments, almost unrecognizable, that have got us to where we are attitudinally, intellectually and physically.

It made me think maybe by reliving ‘that moment’ we are setting us up for unrealistic future moment management.

It made me think maybe we are continuously seeking big earth shattering moments in the future by doing so.

It made me think that maybe, in reality, the future is made up of infinitesimal little moments in which we are made, broken, reshaped & remade.

Aw. Shit. This is all philosophical rambling on my part.

All I know for sure is that I will hesitate from here on out to dramatize some past event as ‘meaningful in my Life’ beyond the fact it was but a moment. I will hesitate to think that “everything would have been different” if i had done something in that moment.

I will not argue that there are some moments we would all like to have back and do something differently. I imagine my real point is that there were most likely a succession of moments that led up to it (that were just as important) and there are moments after that moment in which things may have unfolded just as poorly, or maybe not as well, if we had done something differently.

But I do know that I will just take … well …. a moment or two clarifying in my mind that some moment I am thinking about was not necessarily ‘that moment’, but simply ‘a moment.’

I imagine my hope in doing this is that maybe thinking this way I will make every moment a little more important in the future.

An admirable trait of the truly great is their ability to recognize the limitations of their actual talent in combination with their ability to not waste their talent. They recognize they have some talent, have some humility about that talent, & relentlessly pursue using the talent they do have.

That said.

Simply because they may have risen above the talents of the ordinary has not stopped them from believing they are not that extraordinary. In fact, maybe what I admire most is how they dwell on their ordinariness. Or maybe it’s that they recognize the potential fleetingness of their talent and what people perceive as greatness.

—–

“I know just how it feels to think of the right thing to say too late.”

=

Robert Frost

—–

C’mon. Can you believe this?

This is the guy who probably wrote some of the most amazing poetry of all time.

This is the guy who in 1961 JFK asked, for his inaugural ceremony, to give a poetry reading.

This is the crazy talented wordsmith sonofabitch who, blinded by the sun’s glare on the snow covered Capitol grounds, found himself unable to read the poem he had prepared.

So what did he do?

This is the guy who recited “The GiftOutright” from memory.

It opens with:

The land was ours before we were the land’s.
She was our land more than a hundred years
Before we were her people. She was ours …

People watching noted other people frickin’ cried over his words.

Read it yourself.

Imagine being there.

You would be moved to tears yourself.

And this guy suggests he couldn’t think of the right thing to say? Well. Makes me feel a little better about the time I not only stumbled over words, but was a blithering idiot.

Oh. How about this?

——

“I have no particular talent, I am merely extremely inquisitive.”

Albert Einstein

——

I think like this quote so much because I cannot envision how one of the greatest minds of all time would suggest he has no particular talent.

Now. I am sure he had an ego (who wouldn’t if you thought of things people had never thought of before … consistently).

But. “I have no talent.”

C’mon.

When is the last time you heard one of your management people say this.

When is the last time someone said this in an interview?

When is the last time you heard anyone say this?

C’mon.

Could you imagine good ole Al sitting there in his rumpled suit and the interviewer asks official question number 4 “please tell me what you think you are good at?”

And Al reaches up and tries to smooth down that crazy hair of his, hesitates, and says “well, I have no particular talent, I am merely extremely inquisitive.”

(cut to interviewer making note to self “cut interview short. Not ambitious enough. Cannot identify any talent. Waste of time interviewing.”)

Look.

Robert Frost was said to be an irascible bastard to be around.

Albert was seen as kind of loony (and apparently didn’t know any barbers) but nice guy.

But given these two quotes I am sharing they both recognized that they weren’t always the bee’s knees (I have been looking for an opportunity to use that in a post one day). I personally believe we could use a good dose of this attitude <some humility> in today’s workplace a little more than the current dosage may be.

I guess I also think our country’s leadership could maybe take a sip of this humility too.

Regardless. Some people will point to humility being a consistent characteristic of a great leader. And they may be right. All I really know is these quotes are a good reminder that, no matter how talented you may be, even the greatest of the great minds took it all that ‘talent’ in stride. Let’s not call it humility, let’s call it “perspective.”

Maybe these guys, for all their quirks and eccentricities, had character. And for that, above any talent they had, they should earn our respect. As any talented person, who handled themselves this way, would deserve respect.

I do believe all of us have some greatness within, therefore, we all must have something underneath that greatness. I call the underneath “the great equalizer.” It equalizes people into a common denominator regardless of what, or how great, their greatness is. Just note. A lot of people talk about ‘finding your passion’ or ‘greatness’ but maybe we should be talking more about what lies underneath greatness. Because maybe, just maybe, that is greatness.

“Do people with this mindset believe that anyone can be anything, that anyone with proper motivation or education can become Einstein or Beethoven? No, but they believe that a person’s true potential is unknown (and unknowable)”

This made me write today about personal limitations. We all have them. We all hate ‘em. We all ignore them.

I tend to believe most of suck at managing our lives against our limitations.

Heck. I tend to believe we suck at even defining them.

Now. To give everyone a break; it is hard.

I believe it is really really hard <mainly> because mentally it is extremely difficult to always have a finely tuned instrument of realism, pessimism and optimism. A mental instrument perfectly pitched for your life where you doubt just enough to be humble and realistic, optimistic enough to aim high and stretch your limitations and realistic enough to know when enough is enough <you have gone as far as you can go and do what you can do>.

Once again, simply recognizing your limitations is a challenge (really difficult) but it is compounded by respecting those limitations and ultimately finally submitting to them <realistically>.

So. While having personal limitations is human, aligning yourself mentally, emotionally and realistically takes an almost inhuman amount of effort. We struggle to admit not being perfect, okay, maybe not perfect, but that some things are just not possible or that we may not actually be good at something or to admit that there is a gap between our best and what the best is.

A truth? It can be extremely healthy, freeing, to recognize and accept limitations because once you have done that you can figure out how to move forward from there.

Ah. Moving forward. That is another tricky part in this limitations acknowledgement equation.

Once you recognize limitations, does doubt creep in?

Do you stop trying?

Do you accept your best as not being good enough or just good enough?

Or.

Is this as good as <I> it gets?

Limitations weave a wicked web in the head. It is constant tug of war in our heads with tendencies of overbearing pride and a lack of self-confidence. Both are very dangerous.

Pride makes you overestimate your abilities. you think you’re capable of a lot more than you can really handle.

Lack of confidence makes you underestimate your potential. you don’t think you can accomplish things you can actually do <if you did them>. you never truly find out what you are capable of.

Anyway. Letting one of these tendencies dominate you makes it impossible to form an accurate self-image and an accurate assessment of what your real opportunities <and possibilities> are, let alone even know what your real possibilities are. While you seek to keep a mindset of realism, optimism and pessimism in tune, you also have to seek to accept the gap between your abilities and the best. Because, remember, the best is the pinnacle and at best there are few <if not one> who can truly be the best of the best. This is not meant to suggest you shouldn’t be striving to close the gap, but by recognizing limitations you see the gap closing and at the same time kind of recognize it will never be completely closed — and are okay with that. Despite that you study, learn, practice and keep trying to develop – stretching and challenging your limitations.

We certainly cannot all be Michelangelo, but that doesn’t mean we can’t aim as high as we can. Uhm. With realism.

Now. About that idea of ‘realism.’ Now. I am not a big fan of Malcolm Gladwell’s books and I got even grumpier when I read this in Outliers: the Story of Success about how we can all become ‘experts’ regardless of our limitations or skill set:

“In fact, researchers have settled on what they believe is the magic number for true expertise: ten thousand hours“

“… to become an expert in a field of study, it merely takes 10,000 hour of focus and practice on the topic at hand“.

“Outside of the top 1% and the bottom 1%, anyone can become a professional musician if they practice enough”.

==

Ok.

This is bullshit.

This is nuts.

Absolutely crazy.

I love to work and I am all for working hard and developing your best to be the best it can be but, c’mon, a formula for being an expert? And, worse, suggesting that if you simply work hard and invest time you will be an expert?

That is frickin’ nuts.

Look. I worked 10,000 hours in a 4 year span <yeah … that’s what averaging 50 hours a week 50 weeks a year will get ya> in my late 20’s and I loved almost every minute and I absolutely became better than I was and maybe better than some others. But an expert? Not even close.

Maybe I am the village idiot and I need 20,000 hours to become an ‘expert’ but suffice it to say while at the end of that stretch I was being paid way too much money and I had a high falutin’ title before I was even 30 … and I was not even close to being an expert.

<update: The author of the original 10,00o research – a guy named Ericsson – has already gone on record that Gladwell sorely missed the point of his research and oversimplified. In addition, a study found in ‘The Sports Gene’ actually suggests that 10,000 hours will not matter if you are not genetically blessed to begin with>

Anyway. This insane 10,000 thought Malcolm so flippantly throws out there also disregards a couple of things:

– Passion and true talent are not always matched.

Experts have some passion. A love of what they do combined with a real talent for that particular talent or skill.

My definition of an expert may not match Malcolm’s. Simply putting in the hours may make me better than I was <it will> and maybe make me better than most <it will>, but that will not necessarily make me an expert. Experts have talent intermingled with some emotional investment to make them better than the better. Emotional investment without talent is like falling in love with someone who doesn’t really love you. You may get married <mistakenly> but something will always be missing.

Final truth?

Not all of us can be experts. Sorry. That is what understanding limitations is all about. It is a difficult lesson … it is a lesson that no one seems to want to say out loud … but it is a Life truth.

– Expertise learned is not the same as being a learned expert.

10,000 hours may teach someone the mechanics very very well. How to think, what to think and how to ‘do’ efficiently and effectively. They have become learned of the expertise. The problem? They can’t think it, feel it or abstractly maneuver within it. This is how you recognize these people: they act robotically. Each stimulus has an exact calculated response. A learned expert adapts.

Final truth?

Limitations can keep you from being an expert. Some limitations can be stretched … bent … sometimes even broken to be recreated at a different spot, but a limitation is a limitation.

Anyway.

Even if you are in the top 1%, practice harder than anyone alive, and have the right attitude it can still go wrong:

“I continuously go further and further learning about my own limitations, my body limitation, psychological limitations. It’s a way of life for me.”

Ayrton Senna

Senna was one of the greatest Formula One drivers of all time. It seemed like every year, even while being the best, he got better.

He died in a Formula One race car crash.

It’s dangerous to be propelled by pride, but also by unrealistic expectations of your own limitations. In other words, stretching the limits and your limitations too far can be dangerous.

Expecting too much of yourself and those forces can drive you to a tragic end. If you are not careful ,you can construct and fairly elaborate construct of personal expectations far beyond your limitations. Simply put – you don’t build in the fact you are human.

Everybody has a wall they can hit. That is called ‘a limitation.’

Which leads me to knowing “when to hold ’em and when to fold ’em.” This is part of understanding your limitations.

It suggests a couple of key things with regard to limitations: getting in the game in combination with knowing when to get out of the game.

Look. I may have too high expectations of people. I don’t think I do. I just sometimes think many people have very low expectations of themselves.

So there are some things you can’t do right now. Who cares? Get in the game.

What you’re doing is more than you have done in the past. As your confidence grows more and more possibilities open to you and things you can do that you never imagined before. In other words, your limitations have been redefined.

Cope with your limitations.

In recognizing your inherent limitations you begin to do everything you can and yet know you can’t do everything. You do everything you can with an understanding that “everything you can” cannot be everything.

And when you get close to ‘the wall’? Get out of the game. Fold ‘em.

I recognize it’s not easy.

Sometimes … just when you think you know yourself … you disappoint yourself.

And sometimes … just when you think you know yourself … you surprise yourself.

And while I slammed Gladwell a little earlier I will use a smart <obvious but oft overlooked> insightful quote to close this out:

—-

“We prematurely write off people as failures. We are too much in awe of those who succeed and far too dismissive of those who fail.”

Malcolm Gladwell

—–

Limitations can be drawn by yourself <and they should be> as well as by others <which most often they shouldn’t be>.

You know what you are capable of.

You know what you are not capable of.

You don’t really need someone else writing you off on something … until you have decided you should be.

In addition, we are too often in awe of those who succeed and certainly invest far far too much energy trying to emulate them.

I do believe the whole limitations thing is one of Life’s most difficult ongoing challenges.

The best I often think we can do is to continuously tinker with our mindset continuously tuning realism, optimism and pessimism — all important to keep things in balance and a finely tuned Life.

Constantly nudging up against the “why nots” and “what ifs” because possibilities keep us going. We all want something better or just simply to be better.

We are not all Michelangelo.

But we can all aim as high as we can … recognizing that our best … may not be Michelangelo best … but it is the best we can be.

“But, my dear, how long will you wait for something that will never come?”

—

(via saudi-barbie)

=====

So. Opportunities. ok. Opportunities and blinking.

Yeah. What happens if you blink at the wrong time in Life?

Well. Life, in general, doesn’t permit blinking. Okay. It is relentlessly unforgiving if you blink at the wrong time.

Simplistically, Life happens … even if you are not paying attention. Shit. Life happens even if you ARE paying attention and you blink.

Sigh.

Sadly … far too often we blink at just the wrong moment.

Sometimes it is because we … well … just have other shit to do.

Sometimes it is because we … well … we are just a dumbass

Sometimes it is because … well … that is just reality <sometimes>.

And, sometimes, well, it doesn’t really matter.

Doesn’t matter? Opportunities are like pebbles. If you throw a pebble into a pond, you have no way of predicting exact way the ripples will ripple <unless you are some mathematics professor at Harvard where you could probably extrapolate it … uhm … but the window of opportunity would most likely close anyway before you figured it out>. Ripples depend on how you drop, or throw, or skip the pebble. Shit. Ripples depend on if some other asshole drops a pebble, stone or clod of mud in the frickin’ pond.

=====

“How can I begin anything new with all of yesterday in me?”

Leonard Cohen

======

That said.

Not all blinks are created equal. Some blinks are … well … blinks. You just cannot keep your eyes open all the time.

And then there are hesitation blinks. The ones created by the ‘all of yesterday in me.’ Sometimes we blink because the present is a pretty cluttered moment for everyone. Maximizing your present, the “now”, is hard. Fucking hard. Anyone who suggests it is easy or ‘you should try and do it more’ is fucking crazy.

All that clutter can make us blink. And sometimes, yes, it makes us blink at exactly the wrong time.

Wrong time? Not only is ‘the present’ small, but windows of opportunity within ‘the present’ can open and close pretty fucking fast. And all of that just gets even smaller when squeezed by past and future.

Then you start trying to cram in all the tangible shit you need to do <as well as the things you don’t really need to do but have convinced yourself it is ‘need’>.

While it makes my head hurt just typing this there is a reason I bring it up.

While I have written ad nausea about managing time in general and how we focus on the wrong shit <spending more time making lists than actually doing shit> I would suggest that if you want to manage your time more effectively you need to get your head out of the ‘past & future’ head game the best you can.

If you do that effectively than you have effectively maximized your present time the best you can.

In blinking terms this means you have narrowed your blinks to natural blinking versus hesitation blinking. This type of decision on your part really can make a difference. Moments, ‘things’, feelings, opportunities, the possibilities die fast – like in the blink of an eye. In a blink of an eye what was possible simply disappears and is no longer possible.

===

“In the blink of an eye, what was possible is possible no longer.”

Nelika McDonald

===

You blink and what was possible is no longer even in view.

You blink and all the plans you had mapped out get crumpled up.

Blinking insures you either grasp the concept of adaptability or you will inevitably grasp only disappointment an discouragement.

Yeah. It’s nice to have plans, and even recommended in most situations, but when a plan doesn’t happen, you have to be able to think on your feet, and change courses if necessary. Life doesn’t always cooperate with what you wanted to do, so you have to be prepared. We all know that if you aren’t paying attention to your own life, you are gonna miss some important things. Life does what it does whether you want it to or not.

Regardless. It can seem fairly overwhelming if you dwell on a belief that every minute that passes is a minute that you will never get back or every opportunity you miss is an opportunity you will never get back.

==========

“We don’t always get the luxury of having closure.

Sometimes things just end. There’s not always a rhyme or reason for why they do, they just do.”

Ashleigh Catibog-Abraham

==========

But that means you have to find some peace in blinking.

You need to find some peace in the fact that some opportunities are just missed.

You need to find peace in those the moments where you had got it right for yourself and not for anyone else <even if you did blink>.

Life is complex as it is.

Far too often we speak of opportunities in some simplistic fashion … and mostly from an individualistic point of view. Therein lies the foundation of opportunities & complexity.

We live in a world of collaboration and anything but individual decision making.

Simplicity is being demanded by the whole and implemented by the parts. And aligning attitudes and desires is difficult. And so is insuring aligning in strengths in today’s idealistic view of collaboration.

Maybe that is where simplicity faces its most difficult contradiction – facing the conflict in aligning making bigness small <in vision for the whole> and capturing the importance, and bigness, of the small.

===============

“Incredible change happens in your life when you decide to take control of what you do have power over instead of craving control over what you don’t.”

Steve Maraboli

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Huh? Well.

Simplistically <which is dangerous on this topic> opportunities truly are like windows. They open and close. When defined that simply it is nice and tight and makes something big smaller and more easily grasped. But these less-than-simple windows are actually representative of something that looks more like a bow tie or an hourglass on its side.

Lots of complex things and thoughts funneling into this nice tight little window and should you step through the window of opportunity … well … the vista of what could be, can be and will be widens to some pretty extraordinarily complex aspects.

In the end.

Maybe that is my bigger point about blinking and opportunities.

That window is always there.

That window opens and closes all the time.

That complex experience and stuff is always happening.

That complex vista beyond the window is always there and changing.

Oh.

Whether you blink or not.

Control what you can.

Accept what you cannot control.

Don’t blink because of hesitation.

And accept that, well, you have to blink sometime and you will miss something when you do.